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SPEECH 



JOHN C. EUTIltoOOKD, 



OIE" G-OCDCJUXn-A-S^U. 



HOUSE OF DELEGATES OF VIRGINIA, 



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REMOVAL FROM THE COMMONWEALTH 



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FREE COLORED POPULATION. 



D E L I V }: R E D F E B K U A 11 Y IS, 18-53. 



UicljinoiiLi : 

PllINTKD BY RITCHIES &. DUNNAVAHT. 
1853. 



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spp:ech. 



Mk. fiUTHKIlKOORD said, that he should vote against 
the substitute reported by the eornmiltee for courts of justice, 
because he regarded it as wholly innde(iu:ite to effect the 
object proposed. For the same reason, he was opposed to 
the bill of the gcntlemiin from Amelia. As independent pro- 
positions, or as auxiliary measures, with some modifications, 
he might be willing to give them his support. But he could 
not vote for either of them as a substitute i()i- the bill of the 
gentlemnn from Staflbid and King George. That bill, as 
originally n.^ported, did not command his ai)probation. But 
it had been amended in many mnterial respects, so as to re- 
move objections to which it was liable at lirst, on the ground 
of unnecessary harshness in its provisions. He should, be- 
fore concluding his remarks, consider these piov'sions in 
detail. 

Each one of the ineasures unden' consideration proposes, as 
its object, the removal from the state of our free negro popu- 
lation. This is a grave proposition, Mr. Speaker, involving 
moral and economical consitlerations of the highest conse- 
(pience, and requiring the most profound reflection and tho- 
rough investigation, [n the consideration of a subject so 
diflicult and so important, it is i)cculiarly desirable that we 
should divest our minds of prepossessions and prejudices; 
that we should extend and enlarge our views beyond mere 
local interests, to what is demnndcd by the well-being of the 
state; that, not confining our views to particular aspects of 
the question, but examining it carefully and impartially in all 
its bearincrs, we should well and Imnestly acquit our con- 
sciences of the heavy responsibility which its decision in- 
volves. Sir, if I do not deceive myself, it is more as an en- 
quirer than as an advocate ; it is in a frame of mind to seek 
truth rather than victory in argument; it is with an earnest 
anxiety to avoid error and to act in this matter with an eye 
sinaly to the trood of Virginia, that I enter into the cf)nsidera- 
lion of the measures before us. Hokhng myself yet open to 
change and conviction, asking for enlightenment, I may hope 
that lh(^ views which I shall present will be heard and 
weighed in a like spirit of impartial en(]uiry. 

Tliough friendly to the bill of the gentleman from Siatibrd 
and King George, I am prepared to concede that, even in its 



^ 

-» 



4 

amended frtiin, il is not tree from oljjeclions. No measure 
could 1)0 devised to effect the object proposed, which would 
not be open to some exception ; ibr it is a complex subject, 
and we are conslraineti to choose between evils, decide it as 
we uiav. It will assist us in forming a correct conclusion, to 
bear this in mind. The question is not whether the removal 
of the free negro populaiion will produce unqnnlitied good- 
Such a result from the measure no one anticipates. It is 
hardly ever effected by the most perfect of human laws. Nor 
is it a (jueslion whether this measure will be productive of 
evils. It is for us to determine, putting logether the good and 
evil on either side, where, upon the whole, lies the lesser 
evil — in which scale preponderates the good. 

lam ready also to concede, that to justify the removal ol 
this population from the state, it is not enough that we should 
be convinccil, beyond doubt, that their influence in the com- 
munity is for evil rather than for good. There is a class of 
evils incident to society, or to certain states of society, which 
are irr('medi:d)le :ind incapable of removal — others which can- 
not be removed without producing evils of still greater mag- 
nitude. Il is necesstiry i()r us to enquire, therefore, not only 
whether this class of our population be a great evil in Vir- 
ginia, bur also, if it be, whether it be one which it is compe- 
tent ibr us to remove, without hazarding the production of 
evils ecjually or more to be deploretl ; and farther, whether 
there be an}^ constitutional or moral obstacles to our action in 
the mode proposed. These enquiries lie at the threshold of 
the subject. They must necessarily precede examination of 
the details of the measures before us. 

It will hardly be denied by an}' one that this population is 
an evil in the state. But the full magnitude of the evil is not 
generally understood. Indeed, it is difficult to appreciate it 
properly. The free negroes have been generally found so 
mischievous a class everywhere, that even nonslaveholding 
states have passed laws to exclude theui. But their inlluence 
for evil in a free state is light in comparison with that whicli 
they exercise here. Though, as a class, they be idle, igno- 
rant, degraded and immoral, filling our courts with culprits 
and our pcnitenliarx with convicts, consuming more than they 
1/ product' and diminishing rather than adding to the wealth of 
the state, yet there is little ])robability that their removal 
would be ur^ed, if slavery ditl not exist among us. In the 
delicate relations between master and slave, they are a dis- 
turbing element. Hence their chief mischief at j^resent — 
hence the great mischief which ihey threaten in future. 

Sir, the due subordination of our slave population is not 
onlv of \ast pecuniary importance to us: it is also essential 



to the peace and happiness alike of the master and the slave. 
The sccuiit}^ of our iircsidcs, as well as the value of our pro- 
perty, is dependent upon it. It lies at the foundation of the 
institution of slaver)', and is necessary to its support. Our 
law seems to recognize this by the severity wiih which it 
punishes all offences that tend to impair it. Yet the influ- 
ences of the i'ree negro population are more fatal to it than all 
other causes combined. The slave is in daily communion 
with the free nej^ro, and often connected with him bv ties of 
blood and affinitv. Of the same caste and the same color, he 
feels dissatisfied that his eciual socially should be his superior 
j)olitically. The free negro encourages this spirit of discon- 
tent. Too often he has imbibed ihe doctrines of ab(jlilionism. 
He infuses their poison into the ears of the slave. Tlic dan- 
ger of detection is small ; and the influences which he exerts 
are, because of his constant association with the slave, little 
open to observation and less likely to be suspected and un- 
derstot)d. Yet it was but a few da3's since that I saw a case 
reported in the newspapers of a free negro convicted and sen- 
tenced to the |)enitentiarv tor aiding the escape of a fugitive 
slave. Sir, 1 have good ground to say that the free negro is 
relied upon by the Garrisons and Folsoms as a potent aux- 
iliarv, and that the whole abolition party oppose his removal 
and colonization, l)ecause they regard him as an indispensable 
instrument in the accomplishment of their designs. 

His influence not only favors insubordination in the slave, 
but in other ways also it impairs his value. Tt encourages 
him to steal from his master, by increasing the profits of the 
theft and lessening the hazards of discovery. The free ne- 
groes furnish him with a market for his plunder. Thev lend 
him, if necessary, their practiced skill in the perpetration of 
the robbery. They are the necessary vehicles or intermediate 
agents of an unlawtlil commerce between the slave and the 
white man. The slave sells to them. They sell to the near- 
est white man who will buy of them, or carry the stolen pro- 
perty to the nearest market town. And how otlen is it that 
the colored tenant of a barren acre or half acre lot sells in 
parcels, throughout the year, as the produce of his farm, hun- 
dreds of barrels of corn and hundreds of bushels of wheat I 
I know oi" some I'ree. nejrro settlements, near to which neither 

- • • • 

sheep nor hogs can be raised, and agricultural prgduce is sub- 
ject, at all times, to a midnight levy heavier than the heaviest 
tax(.'s which the commonwealth imposes. Valuable farms, 
offered lor sale, have tailed to find a purchaser, or have sold 
at a depreciated price, because of their proximity to these 
baneful settlements ; and proprietors, in such neighborhoods, 
fearing, with good reason, the torch of the incendiary, have 



been compellod to keep nightly guards about their barns and 
dwelliiig-honscs; nav, Sir, in too many instances, it is to be 
feared, finding their profits uncertain, tlieir property insecure, 
their slaves dishonest and unruly, and annoyed beyond en- 
durance by re[)eated depredations, have, at last, abandoned 
forever the scene of ceaseless vexations and anxieties, to seek 
another home in another soil, free from the curse of a free 
negro population. 

If testimony were wanting as to the enormit}' of this evil, 
the statistics of crime would dissipate all doubt upon the sub- 
ject. They proclaim in language, not to be mistaken, that 
there is no ])r(;judice n(jr exaggeration in what I have said 
about this miserable class of our population. It is estimated 
by Gov. Giles, that up to 1829, crimes among the free blacks 
were more than three times as numerous as among the whites. 
From the reports of the superintendent of the penitentiary, it 
appears that from 1831 to 1840, inclusive, crime among 
free negroes was five times as great as among whites in 
proportion to numbers, and from 1841 to 1850, inclusive, 
nearly nine times as great ; that during the first period of ten 
years, the free negroes, in numbers only one-fifteenth of the 
while population, committed more than one-third as many 
crimes, and that during the second period of ten years, being 
one-sixteenth of the white population, they committed nearl}^ 
one-half as many crimes. How significant are these facts of 
the character of tiiis population, of their progressive deterio- 
ration, their rapidly increasing degradation ! Would they not 
lead one, otherwise uninformed upon the subject, to infer, a 
priori, as an inevitable consequence, that very condition of 
things to which I have been adverting, and of which we have 
such lamentable experience? 

There is no wa}'' to ameliorate their condition in Virginia. 
Endeavor to elevate it by enlarging tluMr rights, and, without 
improving their character, you increase their power tor mis- 
chief They have proved most troublesome where their pri- 
vileofes have been greatest. Laws of stern severity seem to 
be necessary for their good as well as for our own peace and 
security. Morally and economically, they are unfit for free- 
dom among whites. A degraded, iille and vicious class they 
will ever be, as long as they remain among us. As the po- 
})ulaiion of the state increases, and with it their own numbers, 
(and (hning the last sixty years, their proportional increase 
has been three times as great as that of the whiles, and five 
times as great as that of the slaves,) the chang(^ in their cha- 
racter and condition will be, as it has been hidierto, steacHly 
for the worse. During the first tiiiriy yeais of this century, 
their crimes arc estimated to have been as three to one to 



crimes among the whiles; now lliey are as nine lo one. In 
future the proportion would be greater, and this idle and itn- 
provident class would be the greatest sufferers, as the dif- 
ficulty of subsistence increased with an increasing population. 
Mr. Speaker, there is but one remedy for the evil: it is the 
removal of this class of our population It-om amongst us. Can 
it be doubted that the evil is of such enormous magnitude as 
to make it our duty to remove it, if we can, without hazard of 
any evil of equal "mischief, without infringement of our con- 
stitution, and consistently with sound principles of legislation? 
is it then one of those evils for which there is no remedy V 
In every community some such evils exist — social evils, which 
no social organization, no frame of government, no code of 
laws, however perfect, can wholly avoid — evils, which are a 
necessary consequence of their political condition, a part of 
the penalty which they pay for the blessings of society, the 
protection of government, the progress of civilization and the 
increase of population. It is impossible to remove such so- 
cial disorders as the weakness of our common nature will 
sometimes produce under the best forms of government, or 
such as arise in dense populations Irom the difficulty of sub- 
sistence or the inevit;d)le war between labor and capital. 
Such evils may be lessened or mitigated by prudent legisla- 
tion : they caimot be removed — and the reason is plain. It is 
because their source is too deep, because the la we of man can- 
not control the laws of God; because no legislation can era- 
dicate the frailties of our nature from the human heart, nor 
destroy great princi[)les which lie at the foundation of all so- 
ciety. Herein is to be found the cardinal error and faUacy, not 
only of sumptuary laws, but of socialism, communism, aboli- 
tionism, and all those Utopian and impracticable systems, 
which, disregarding the lessons of the past and the elements 
of the present and the future, supposing humanity perfect or 
capable of being made so, aim lo regulate the comj)licated 
framework of human society by fixed rules and abstract prin- 
ciples, unwarranted by the book of history or the laws of 
nature. 

This is not one of those evils which have their source too deep 
to be reached by the laws of man. The cause of it does not 
lie immovably fixed amidst the frailties of humanity or the 
foundations of society. It consists simply in the residence 
among us of u ceriain class of persons, constituting one- 
twenty-eighth of our entire f)opulation. Let this class ol 
persons go fr(.m amongst us, and the evils which they produce 
go with them. That it is practicable to devise some measure 
adequate, lo eflect their removal, no one will doubt. 1 will 



d 

endeavor to show, before concluding, lliat ihf ohjeci w'll be 
accomplished by the bill under consideration. 

It being practicable to remove the evil, the next enquiry 
necessary to be made is, Whether its removal can produce 
any other evils of equal magnitude? The evils which, it has 
been urged, will be produced by the removal of our free negro 
population seem to be resolvable into these: A withdrawal 
of productive labor from the state, a diminution of our repre- 
sentation in congress, and hard and cruel consequences to 
the free negroes themselves. I might, for the sake of argu- 
ment, admit these evils in all the latitude that may be claimed 
for them, and yet successfully contend llnit they are light in 
comparison wiilj those which we propose lo get rid of But, 
Sir, let me ask whether it is just that these evils should be 
fully admitted? If 1 have correctly described the character 
of our free negro |)opulation, the ettect of their retnoval will 
not be a withdrawal of productive labor from the stale; for 
the\' are what political economists w-ould call a class of un- 
j)rodp.ctiNe consumers — consuming more than they produce, 
diminishing rather thai) adding to the sum of our wealth, con- 
stituting, in fact, a charge and burden upon the labor of the 
slave; idle and vicious themselves, and encouraging idleness 
and vice in others. Ought it to be admitted that the removal 
of such a class of persons would ultimately diminish our po- 
pidaiion or our representative strength in congress? ?^ir, it 
would check emigration and encourage immigration ; and, 
while adding to the wealth of the state, 1 believe that it would 
in the end add to our population. In pnrlicular counties, where 
free blacks are numerous, 1 know that their labor is valnaljle 
lo farmers, especially at certain seasons ol" the year, and that 
their sudden removal w'ould be productive of great mischief. 
Anv plan proposing their sudden removal would, in my mind, 
be linble to insuperable objections. Their removal should be 
gradual (as is proposed ir' the bill before us) — \hr more gra- 
dual, within proper litnils, the better — so that other and better 
labor may, in such counties, gradually supply their place, and 
so that fnmers, who have been in the habit of relying upon 
their assistance in harvesting and i<»r other j)urposes, m;iy have 
time to make arrangements to dispense with their aid. Let 
me ask again. Whether it would be proper lo ailmii that the 
free negroes themselves w'ould be suflerers by the change pro- 
posed ? Wretched as is their present condition in Virginia, 
it will, a- our population increases, bet.ome yet more so, and 
yet more pregnant with mischief to all classes in the commu- 
nity. Can it be possible that their gradual removal to Liberia, 
whither it is proposed to send them, will still farther add to 



their misery and degradation? Lot me refer you, Mr. Speak- 
er, to the last reports of the Colonization Society concerning 
the country and the government which they are to exchange 
for our own. If these reports are to be credited, ws will con- 
fer a great blessing upon this unhappy class of persons by 
sending them to Liberia. They will be transferred to a coun- 
try, where, no longer a degraded class, they will enjo)'' both 
social and political equality ; where, on a soil teeming with 
fertility, in a climate more fivorable than our own to their 
health and vigor, citizens of a republican government, the 
strongest stimulants will exist to elevate their character and 
arouse their energies. I might dwell, too, upon the benelits, 
direct and indirect, which a large portion ot our people will 
derive from their removal — the increase in the value of land, 
in the productiveness of slave labor, increased contentment 
and improved morality of the slaves, increased domestic com- 
fort and security of the whites — the simplification of our laws 
concerning the colored population of the stale, and the aug- 
mented difficulties of successful kidnapping, when everv co- 
lored man among us shall be a slave, and the exliibit of ficti- 
tious free papers can no longer facilitate the escape of the fu- 
gitive. Can there, then, be any evils attendant upon their 
removal comparable in mischief to those which they produce 
by remaining? Can they eflect any good here not inconsider- 
able in contrast with that which will result from their absence? 
If, then, this great evil can be removed without producing 
any evils which are not light in comparison, let us consider 
next, whether there be any constitutional obstacles to its re- 
moval in the mode proposed. Our new constitution expressly 
gives to the general assembly the power " to pass laws lor the 
relief of the commonwealth from the free negro population, 
by removal or otherwise." The framers of the constitution 
looked to their removal, to use the language of the constitution 
itself, as "a relief" to the state. Thus, the object which the 
measures before us have in view is expressly sanctioned by 
the constitution of Virginia. Sir, their cumpulsory removal 
was intended : for their voluntary withdrawal, without con- 
straint or coercion, no sane man could ever have anticipated. 
Their compulsory removal is provided lor in the bill of the 
gentleman from King George ; but it is not in the substitute. 
Can there, then, be just objection to the coercive features of 
this measure, if they be such only as arc necessary and pro- 
per to carry into execution a constitutional power, and to ac- 
complish an object which the constitution ap[)roves and recom- 
mends ? At the end of three years it is proposed that they 
shall be hired out, and that the proceeds of their hire shall be 
a fund lor their removal. Sir, there is precedent in our own 

2 



w 

state to sustain such exercise of authority. In the case of 
Aldridge v. The Cornmonwealili, it was decided by the general 
court U) be within the constitutional power of the legislature of 
Virginia to enact laws providing for the enslavement of free 
negroes as a penally tljr offences against the laws. I need not 
refer to laws already on our statute book for the compulsory 
removal of negroes emancipated since 1S06; nor to the pro- 
visions of our new constitution banishing from the state, under 
penalty of enslavement if they remain, all who may be freed 
hereafter; nor to our statutes concerning vagrants, by virtue 
of which even white men were to be hired out ; nor to laws 
now in force requiring free negroes to be hired for the pay- 
ment of their taxes and jail fees. Wherein, ll)en, docs the 
authority, proposed to be exercised by this bill, differ from that 
which has already been so often asserted by our legislature? 
But, Mr. Speaker, if there were no precedents in our favor, 
and even if the new constitution^ like the old, were silent on 
the subject, yet the coercive provisions of" this bill couki be 
sustained on every sound principle of legislation. AVliaiever 
may be true as to the condition and rights of man in a state 
of nature — that impossible state about which so much has 
been written by theorists on government — it is yet certain that 
hardly any natural right can be named, which, in a state of 
socict}^ and civil government, ma}^ not, under certain circum- 
stances, be held justly subordinate to high considerations of 
the pul)lie good and public safety. The right of self-protec- 
tion and self-preservation, vested in every organized commu- 
nity, gives every government, of whatever form, the power, 
which every government has exercised, of abridging and con- 
trolling the freedom and privileges of individuals, whenever 
they come in conflict with the public good. Here we have 
the f()undation of those laws which, for oflences of enormous 
mischief to the community, not only expel citizens from their 
country, but send them out of the world; which not only 
abridge freedom, but take life itself. The toleration of certain 
crimes and misdemeanors would produce frightful disorders, 
destructive of all the benefits of society, and of society itself. 
Hence, all governments find it necessary to repress them by 
the most formidable penalties — by fine, imj^risonment, banish- 
ment, death. Nor can there be, as to such ofli'nces and such 
penalties, any general rule applicable to all governments alike. 
Peculiar circumstances may render crimes common in one 
communit}'', of" which there is never an instance in another — 
may cause deeds to be comparatively harmless among one 
people, which, if tolerated in another nation, would be fraught 
with indescribable evils to the public. The necessity of keep- 
ing our slave population in due subordination, and the various 



11 

laws which grow out of the relation of master and slave in 
the South, furnish one among many instances which might be 
cited to show that the limits of proper legislation can be de- 
termined by no fixed rules or abstract principles everywhere 
applicable. Whether it i)c a question of punishing an offence, 
of prohibiting the exercise of an occupation, of abating a cer- 
tain species of property as a nuisance, or of banishing a cer- 
tain class of individuals for the public evils which they cause, 
it is by high considerations of public policy, not by abstract 
theories of human rio^hts, that legislative action must be de- 
termined. Governments, like individuals, have constantly to 
choose between evils. The lesser evil must be tolerated, nay, 
must often be sanctioned and committed, in order to avoid 
the greater, just as public and private edifices of the greatest 
value and beauty must sometimes be battered down to stop 
the progress of flames and prevent the conflagration of a city. 
Government not only has the power, but it is one of its most 
solemn duties, to remove, if possible, and by harsh remedies, 
if necessary, -the dangerous diseases of the body politic. Can 
an}' one doubt that the existence of the free negro population 
amongst us is such a disease? If, as I think I have shown, 
it be an evil seriously affecting the safety and well-being of 
society, and government can remove it without any mischiefs 
comparable to those which it occasions, then from these very 
propositions would follow both the power and the dut}'^ of 
government to remove it, even though our constitution were 
silent upon the subject, and there were no precedents to sus- 
tain the measure. The right of self-protection, belonging to 
societies as well as to individuals, would sanction the power 
and require its exercise. 

It is impoitant to bear in mind, moreover, Mr. Speaker, 
that this class of our population have no constitutional rights; 
that their rights are solely legal, derived from the law, and 
liable to be abridged and modified by law. Our code already 
denies them the rights of citizens. For similar reasons, by 
virtue of the same principles precisely, they may be denied 
the right to remain in the state. And there is nothing in our 
bill of rights, properly construed, nor in the true princi[)les of 
repubhcan government, inconsistent with the laws which have 
been already enacted, nor with the measure which is now 
proposed concerning this unfortunate population. In address- 
ing the legislature of Virginia, I deem it unnecessary to dwell 
upon this proposition, because it has been unanimously de- 
cided by our general court, that the principles of our bill of 
rights do not apply to our colored population, because, if it 
were to be conceded that ihey did thus apply, it would follow, 
a fortiori, that all our laws sanctioning and regulating the in- 



18 

stitution of slavery were also condemned by the Virginia bill 
of rights and the principles of republican governnnent. In- 
deed, Sir, there can be, in my opinion, no arguments denying 
this power to us which must not of necessity be based upon 
principles and theories which, pushed to their legitimate con- 
sequences, prove destructive of government itself, and inevi- 
tably place us in fraternity with socialists and abolitionists — 
with Fourier and Greeley — Seward and Giddings. 

1 have endeavored, Sir, to show the character of the evil; 
that it is such as to require legislation, if legislation can re- 
move it ; that it is practicable to remove it, and without any 
mischiefs, comparable to those which we repress; that there 
is no constitutional or moral obstacle in our way ; that, on the 
contrary, the constitution approves, precedents sustain, and 
sound principles of legislation demand the removal of the free 
negroes from the state. 

It remains to consider the character of the measure by which 
the object is to be effected. It will be conceded that it should 
be adequate to accomplish the end in view, and that there 
should be no unnecessary harshness or severity in its pro- 
visions. 

The substitute reported by the committee for courts of jus- 
lice is objectionable to my mind, because it does not fulfill the 
first of these re(]uiremcnts. Both the substitute of the com- 
mittee and the bill ot' the gentleman from Amelia make an 
annual appropriation I'rom the treasury, and impose taxes 
upon the free negro, to provide a fund for his removal. The 
principal difference between them seems to be in the amount 
of the tax. Neither authorizes the use of any constraint. Those 
only are to be removed who are willing to go. But neither 
our past experience, nor our knowledge of the characteristics 
of this race, will justify us in the belief that, with the option 
of remaining in the stale, they will choose to be transported 
to Liberia or anywhere else. The number would be compa- 
ratively small who would avail themselves of the provisions 
of the substitute. The experiment has been tried. In 1833, 
a bill was passed by the legislature of Virginia, a})propriating 
$18,000 for their removal. It had little or no elfect. The 
act of 1850 makes an appropriation of S 30,000, and provides 
by taxes an additional fund of 810,000 for the same purpose; 
yet the whole number removed, prior to the 1st January 1852, 
at an expense of S12,G00, is stated to have been only 252 — 
and only 102 during the last vear, at a cost of S 7,050. It is 
alleged, it is true, that some restrictions contained in thi-; act 
have impaired its efficiency. But j'ou may rest assured, Sir, 
that it will never be efficient as long as its execution is de(en- 
<lent upon the will of the free blacks themselves. Tiiere 



13 

never was any population upon the face of tlie globe, about 
whom there was more of the vis imrtice. The drones of our 
community, they will not look to the future, they will make 
no provision in the summer for the winter, nor one day for the 
next. The unwonted trouble and exertion that would l)e at- 
tendant upon a change of their homes, would alone be suffi- 
cient to keep the bulk of them stationary in one place forever. 
In making these general remarks of the class, I know that 
there arc exceptions. These exceptions form the most intel- 
ligent and respectable of these people. Such, and such only, 
industrious laborers and mechanics, would be banished by the 
operation of the substitute. The very dregs and refuse of this 
miserable population would still be left among us. I have 
grave doubts whether, if this substitute were to be enacted 
into a law, it would not thus, by its partial operation, rather 
aggravate than diminish the evil. 

On the other hand, the bill for which the committee have 
offered their substitute, seems to be adequate to accomplish 
the object designed. Its coercive features are not to take ef- 
fect until 1856. In the mean time, many will have been in- 
duced to leave the state by the notice to (juit, which they will 
receive under the provisions of the bill. Let us suppose, 
however, that notwithstanding the effect of this notice, the 
number will be quite as large in 1S56 as it was in 1850. The 
number of free negroes in Virginia, by the census of 1S50, is 
53,829. Of this number, there were 32,731 between the ages 
of ten and fifty, or of an age to be hired out. Of those be- 
tween ten and fifty, there may be mothers with young chil- 
dren, and others, to the number of 7,731, whom the overseers 
might, for good reasons, in the exercise of the discretion which 
this bill allows them, determine not to hire out under its pro- 
visions. There would still remain for hire 25,000. The 
average hire of negroes is now nearer to $100 than to $50. 
It may safely be assumed, that alter deducting the overseers' 
commissions and the expenses incidental to the hiring, the net 
produce of their hire would be S50 per cayka. At this rate, 
for 25,000, there would be received by the overseers, for the 
first year, the sum of 81,250,000. How much of this sum 
would be needed for the support of that part of the popula- 
tion which might not be able to take care of themselves, it is 
difficult to say. But there is every reason to believe that, if 
this fund be faithfully and judiciously achninistered, not more 
than one-half of it, if as much, would be requisite tor that 
purpose. Among those left at their homes by the oversceri 
will be many quite able to take care of themselves and their 
families. In the country, where the bulk of these people live, 
their expenses are small. The}' have generally no rent to pay 



14 

for iheir cal)ins. They own truck-patches and hen-houses, 
and the fields, the hog-pens and the barns of the neighboring 
proprietors will continue to supply them with the means of 
suljsislence and the means of trading for the supply of their 
wants. Indeed, such is tlicir general idleness, that it by no 
means follows that when you wididraw the able-bodied labor- 
ers, or those capable of labor, you thereby lessen very greatly 
the actual amount of productive labor amongst them. In 
many cases, it is as among savages : the women are made to 
do nil the work ibr their lazy, whiskey-drinking lords; and 
when you hire the men, in such cases, you will have actually 
benefited the women and children of the families; for vou 
will have lessened the consumption far more than you will 
have lessened the production. To those who are acquainted 
with the habits of this population, it is needless to say that it 
is not by the produce of their own labor that they are now 
supported. If they hire themselves out at all, it is by the 
day rather than by the year, and from time to time only, as 
their necessities may require, otten following up a few davs in 
the harvest field with months of idleness. The hirino;, there- 
fore, of such as are fit for labor among them, would not make 
so great a difference in the condition of the others, and their 
means of support, as might be at first supposed. Under the 
operation of this bill, their labor would be made to produce 
$1,250,000 per annum, a sum many times greater than they 
produce when left to themselves. Am I not, then, making a 
very liberal estimate, when I suppose that as much as one- 
half of this sum may be requisite to supply to their families 
• the loss of their industry? Then the fund remaining, to be 
used in transporting this population, derivable from their hire 
in one year, would be upwards of $600,000. This sum, at 
an average expense of S 50 for each negro removed, accord- 
ing to the experience of the Coloni^^ation Societj', would be 
sufficient to colonize as many as 1:2,000 — between one-fourth 
and one-fifth of their whole number — a number much too 
large to be sent out of the stale in a single year. But the bill 
provides that the county courts shall, at their January term 
each year, berrinninG; with 1S57, '* havincr reo-ard," to use the 
language of the bill, " both to the capacity of Liberia for re- 
ceiving emigrants and to the cflect upon the peoj)le of their 
own counties of too sudden a withdrawal of a considerable 
part ol their population, as well as to the amount of the fund 
at their disposal," impose a limit upon the number to be trans- 
porli'd (luring the year ensuing. It might also bo advisable 
to provide, in some proper manner, for limiting the whole num- 
ber to be removed in any one j-ear from the commonwealth. 
It is true, Sir, that as the number of free negroes would 



15 

diminisli b}' means of their annual Irunsporlation, the annual 
product of their hire would diminish also. But it is easy to 
perceive that the large fund whicli would thus be raised might 
be so managed as to prove amply sufiicicnt for the gradual 
transportation from the state, belore the year 18(39, (when the 
clause for their enslavement is to take eflect,) of this whole 
class of persons, except such as the bill exempts from its 
provisions. The surplus beyond what might be necessary 
each year for the supjKirt of these people and for the annual 
transportation of a li[nited number to Liberia, would accu- 
mulate in the treasury, or might be invested in interest- 
bearing stocks, to constitute a fund in reserve, when other 
resources might prove insufficient. 

In my estimate of the cilects of the main feature in this 
bill — the compulsory hiring — I have intentionally overlooked 
several sources of auxiliary influence: the notice to quit, to 
be given to them in person by the commissioner, as well as 
by advertisements throughout each county; the action of the 
Colonization Society, aided by an appropriation from the 
treasury under the act of 1850; and the provision ibr their 
voluntary enslavement, contained in the 9th section of the 
bill. I have wished to show that, within itself, it is sufficient 
to effect the object; that before 1869, within the thirteen years 
after the directly coercive features of the bill begin to take 
effect, its great design will have been accomplished. But if 
this should not be the case — if, notwithstanding the operation 
of this bill for the next sixteen years, there should, in 18G9, 
still be free negroes in the state not within the scope of its 
exemptions, it is farther provided in the 9th section, that if 
they will not choose their own masters, they shall be sold 
into slavery, and the proceeds of their sale be applied to pro- 
mote the comfort of those sent to Liberia, as well as of those 
still permitted to remain in Virginia. While this last feature 
of the bill does not command my approbation, my objections 
to it are not so strong as to deprive the measure of my vote. 
If the necessity for such a proceeding can be demonstrated, 
or should hereafter appear, it might be successfully defended 
upon the same grounds which I have urged to justify milder 
measures of coercion; but if it do not appear to be neces- 
sary, as the time prescribed ibr it approaches, the legislature 
will repeal the clause which authorizes it. With such a clause 
in the bill, it may, at least, be predicated, beyond all doubt, 
that it will be adequate in the end to accomplish its object. 
And considerations of humanity and justice to the free negroes 
themselves require that, if we really design to effect their re- 
moval, our measure should at once be made efficient for the 
purpose. It should be of such a character, that if changes in 



16 

it be necessary in future, they should be such as to render its 
provisions milder, not harsher, in their operation. Pcnver, 
under proper limitations, might herealter, if it were thought 
pro[)er, be given to the count}' courts to extend the time tor 
their removal, and to grant exemption from the provisions of 
the bill in certain specified cases. If we hoUl out such liopes 
to t[iem now, the whole purpose of the notice will be defeated, 
and there will be few voluntary removals because of it. But 
let them see, as is proposed by this bill, that we are in 
earnest — that sooner or later they must go — and at once they 
will begin to prepare to do so. 

Though the measure which I advocate be adequate, as has 
been shown, to effect the removal of our free negro popula- 
tion, still it should not receive our sanction if its provisions 
be unnecessarily severe and harsh. It would be a blot upon 
the honored escutcheon of our state, should we pass vindic- 
tive laws against individuals or against classes. Justice and 
humanity require that the remedy for this evil sliould be the 
mildest that may be adequate to its cure. The duty of self- 
preservation gives us, it is true, the right to remove the mis- 
chief; but this right, thus derived, is limited in its nature; it 
is bounded by the limits of the evil, and it is confined to the 
means necessary and appropriate for its removal. Should 
we, in the mere wantonness of power, legislate upon this sub- 
ject, without due consideration for the black as well as for the 
white man, it would be an outrage upon the spirit of the age 
in which we live, and unworthy of our high civilization and 
our ancient, honor. I should oppose a proposition, which has 
some advocates, to reduce this whole class of persons into 
slavery, after notice to them to leave the state, because of its 
unnecessary harshness, because milder measures will remove 
the evil, as I have endeavored to show. 

But, Sir, it should be borne in miuLl that no measure can be 
devised to elfect the object desired, which must not, of neces- 
sity, be harsh and severe to a certain extent. It is because 
these people are not wiUing to go, and never will go, without 
some sort of constraint or coercion. Were this body to ap- 
propriate at once three millions for their removal, this magni- 
ficent a])propriati()n would still be as far from eilectiiig the 
object as the smaller appropriation already made, if it were 
at the same time to be provided that none should be removed 
at the public expense, except such as were willing to go. 
This bill imposes a tax upon the labor of the free negro in 
order to raise a fund lor iiis removal. Is there just objection 
to this? If they are able to pay the expenses of their re- 
moval, why should they not do so? The law of 1S50 sanc- 
tions the principle by taxing them to raise a fund for the pur- 



17 

pose. The substitute of the committee and the bill of the 
gentleman from Amelia both impose taxes for the same ob- 
ject, only differing in amount. And if the free negroes do 
not pay these taxes, they are to be hired out, as the law now 
stands, until their hire will pay them. There is not so much 
difference, then, between the bill of the gentleman from King 
George and the substitutes which have been proposed to it, 
except that the latter are dependent for their effect upon the 
will and pleasure of the free blacks themselves. Bj- the pro- 
visions of the former they will, in the first place, have full no- 
tice to go — three years to get ready. If they can go and will 
not, the appropriation of their own labor to effect the object 
will be a just and necessary penalty for their willful disobe- 
dience to the law. If for the want of means they cannot go, 
then means will be provided for their removal. If irom phy- 
sical or bodily infirmity they ought not to go, they will be al- 
lowed to remain. If, having passed the age of fifty, they 
have reached a period of life when the energies begin to de- 
cay, when the elasticity of the spirit is gone, and the mind, 
averse to change, cannot, as in youth or earlier manhood, ac- 
commodate itself to new scenes and altered circumstances — 
then, too, they have the privilege to stay or go, according to 
their pleasure. They are to be removed, without any painful 
separation of friends or families, and to a country abounding 
in the richest resources, where, if any faith is to be placed in 
human testimon}", their condition will be infinitely preferable 
to that which they now hold in Virginia. In the mean time, 
the measures employed for the purpose will produce no in- 
conveniences at all commensurate with the great good to be 
accomplished. After the 1st of January ISoG, such as can 
work will be made to work. They will be hired out gene- 
rally in the neighborhoods of their families, if families they 
have; they v/ill, in many instances, be rescued from habits of 
idleness and intoxication, fast carrying them to the grave ; and 
both those who are made to labor and those who are left at 
home, will be comfortably clothed, fed and cared for until the 
time for their final departure from the state shall have arrived. 
Sir, I have frankly said that this bill, even in its present 
form, does not wholly command my approbation. If it can 
i)e still farther amended so as to lessen its harshness, without 
impairing its efficiency, most gladly will I vote for such 
amendments. Let them be proposed. The bill is now open 
to amendment. Let its details, if defective, be improved and 
perfected. In the form in which it was originally reported, I 
should have been compelled to vote against its passage. But 
its patron has kindly consented to remove my principal ob- 
jections by amendments, to which I invite the particular attea- 

3 



18 

lion of the house, since they materiall}' mitigate the rigor of 
the measure as it was first proposed. I think it will be found, 
Sir, that the bill of the gentleman from King George, how- 
ever you may change or modify it, contains at least the basis 
and foundation of the true remedy for one of the greatest 
evils which ever afflicted a state. 

I am desirous, before concluding, to say a few words to 
those members whose constituents are less interested in this 
question than the people whom I have the honor to represent, 
and more especially to our friends from the other side of the 
mountains. It is true that the evil is of very unequal distri- 
bution throughout the commonwealth. In the Tidewater dis- 
trict, with a population of about 400,000, the number of free 
blacks by the last census is 32,700 ; while in the Trans-Alle- 
ghany district, with a population nearl}' as large, the number 
is only 2,482 — less than in some single counties of Tidewater 
Virginia. Many may think, therefore, that their constituencies 
have little practical interest in the subject under discussion. 
But even if this be so, does not sheer justice to the people of 
those counties which groan under this burden require that 
they shall be allowed to get rid of it in the mode proposed? 
For they ask to impose no taxes upon others ; they make no 
demands upon the treasury. Those afflicted with the evil ask 
simply that they may be suffered to remove it, without vour 
assistance ; taking upon themselves, within their own county 
limits, the trouble and inconvenience that its removal mav 
involve. 

Is it true though that our Western friends have no interest 
in this subject, except in its bearings upon the general inte- 
rests of the state? They deceive themselves if they suppose 
so. Sixty years ago the number of free negroes and Indians 
together in Eastern Virginia was only 11,976. It is now 45,836. 
Sixty 3'ears ago the number in Western Virginia was but 800. 
It is now 7,801. During this period, the whole free black po- 
pulation of the state has increased three times as rnpidly as 
the whites, and nearly five times as rapidly as the slaves. 
While the number has been smaller, the proportional increase 
of the free negroes has been much greater in Western than in 
Eastern Virginia. In Eastern Virginia it lias been 288 per 
cent. In Western Virginia it has been 775 percent.; about 
550 f)cr cent, in the Valley district, and in the Trans-Allcghany 
region as much as 3,110 percent. Sixty years ago, when 
there were not 12,000 liee negroes in Eastern Virginia, the 
evil was felt almost as ligjitly in iho Jsast as it is now felt in 
the West. Should not the West be admonished, then, that 
what has since been the progress of the evil with us, may, in 
future, be its progress with them? An exhausted soil and a 



MB 10 3. 



19 

hostile population on the one hand, cheap and fertile lands on 
the otlicr, will continue to invite them to enriigrate across the 
mountains: and sixty years hence, if we do not arrest the 
mischief while we can, you may suffer from it more in the 
West than we now do in the East. 

Let me also remind those who, while commending the ob- 
ject, do not wholly approve the provisions of this bill, that its 
operation is prospective, and that in the mean time, and after 
it goes into effect, it will be open to change, modification and 
repeal. Such is the extreme difficulty of the subject, that 
perhaps no human wisdom could at fust devise a measnre not 
justly liable to some objections, and not susceptible of being 
improved by the teachings of time and experience. The bill 
before us may not be perfect : but a beginning is necessary. 
If you wait ibr a measure acceptable to you in every parti- 
cular, you will wait forever, and nothing will ever be done. 
If the provisions of this bill should be Ibund defective, you 
may amend them. Pass it now, and it will be on 3'our statute 
book three years before its coercive features take effect. 
Though you repeal it hereafter, we will, at least, have had 
the benefits, for the first time, of a full, formal, legal notice 
from the public authorities of the stale to our free negro popu- 
lation, that they must depart from the commonwealth. Is not 
this experiment worth trying, if you will go no further? Let 
us at least have the benefit of the notice. 

If this population is ever to be removed, Sir, there should 
be no longer delay in our action. With every year that we 
procrastinate, the difficulties in our path will increase. How 
eas}', comparatively, would the removal of the free blacks 
have been half a century ago ! If we wait half a century 
longer — if we wait but twenty — but ten years — it may become 
wholly impracticable. And is it ])ossible to over-estimate or 
exaggerate the increasing evils that would flow from their in- 
creasing numbers in future? Sir, it was anticipated by manv 
that on a subject of such importance there would be action h\ 
the convention which framed our constitution. Thev, verv 
properly I think, imposed the dut}' upon us; and the people 
now look to us to discharge it. 1 know that the task is one 
full of the greatest embarrassment and delicacy. Perhaps 
there are some who would willingly avoid and cast upon 
others the heavy responsibility which it invoKcs. It is the 
desire of many to pass through life as smoothly as possible, 
shunning every hazard, turning aside from every obstacle, and 
following, whether in private or in public, only the level and 
the beaten pathway. 'I'hey would let the future take car^ 
of itself, and grapple with no difficulties that lie not at their 
doors. We should not, Mr. Speaker, in the discharge of our 



20 

high trusts, turn aside, in such a spirit, from the grave question 
before us. It is our duty to meet it at once with becoming 
manUness — and let us do so. 

Let me, in conclusion, return my thanks to the house tor 
the kind and patient attention which they have given me. 1 
should not have detained you as long, but that m}' constituents 
ieel so deep an interest in this subject, that, though a quiet and 
home-sta3'ing people, they have assembled in public meeting 
at their court-house, to express their sentiments and to send 
me their instructions in regard to it. I have endeavored, Mr. 
Speaker, according to my promise, to consider the question 
with a candid mind. If my judgment be biased by" hidden 
prejudices, or by considerations foreign to the public good, I 
am unconscious of it. Indeed, my secret S3-mpathies and in- 
clinations have strongly opposed the conclusions to which my 
reason and my observation have unwillinglv led me. I have 
feelings of personal regard for individuals belonging to that 
unfortunate class which I have been compelled to speak of so 
harshly. I know that there are some exceptions to the cha- 
racter ascribed to them ; that there are a few, but thev are 
very few, who have the qualities to make good citizens, if our 
laws or prejudices would allow it. I fear, too, that the opera- 
tion of this bill may produce among them cases of private in- 
convenience and hardship. But in legislating for great public 
interests and to repress great public mischiefs, we must look 
to general results, not to exceptional cases. Without some 
sacrifice, no great public good can be accomplished. If there 
be, in particular instances, under this statute, subject for per- 
sonal regret, there will 3'et be an abundant source of consola- 
tion in the reflection that its ultimate effect, while so advan- 
tageous to Virginia, will enure to the benefit of the people we 
banish ; that, worse than slaves at present, they will be made, 
by their removal, equals among equals in a free government, 
inhabitants and {)r()[)rictors of a soil teeming with the richest 
productions of the globe ; nay, Sir, that they may be made the 
agents, under Providence, of a vast and noble work of human 
good — the suppression of the slave trade, which has so long 
desolated Africa, and the final civilization and enlic;htenment 
of her unhappy and benighted millions. 



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